Stretching and exercising

[dharn999]

a couple weeks ago I over did it between running, weights, and helping move furniture and my glutes have been killing me this causing some back pain..

Now I had terrible back pain for over a year and it traveled from my glutes to my back to my shoulders etc etc.. I discovered TMS and it gradually got better then this

My question is, is it ok to stretch out my glutes and specifically work them in my workouts?

I know Dr. Sarno was once big on physical therapy but then believed it only limited the TMS recovery because it undermines our belief of TMS..

I'm like everyone else on the board I'm sure, when something hurts I freak out and think it's never going to end instead of relaxing.. I twisted my ankle something fierce a while back and I thought I would walk with a limp for life...

But if anyone has any advice or guidance it would be appreciated

 

[plum]

Yes it is ok to stretch, massage and cajole life and love back into hurty bits. Sarno simply recognised that people have this adorable tendency to flat out resist any kind of emotional work. He drew that line in the sand because he felt he had to. TMS healing has and is evolving and we have come to recognise and honour all Sarno said and all he did. The man is a champion.

So...for the love of god do the psychological stuff but don't get hung up on what you should and shouldn't do. It was probably that kind of shit that got you to this forum in the first place. Give it up. Enjoy life. Work your physical and metaphorical ass off and come up shining. As it were.

 

[dharn999]

I appreciate the reassurance. I know I have the habit of building mountains out of ant hills... Any type of pain sets me off and makes me think I'm going to have it forever or something..

I know a real injury can start your TMS, your mind just prevents it from healing.. I like working out physically and since it's my glutes that hurt I can work them out and strengthen them.

I guess I need to relax my mind and not stress over the tight muscles and enjoy my workout and know I'm going to get better

 

[Rachel72]

In my experience, exercise actually alleviates my pain, albeit temporarily, because of increased oxygenation to my muscles and endorphins. Also, exercise is a great stress reliever for me. I have not had the experience of worsening my pain because of exercise. I think it may be because I see exercise as a good thing, therapeutic, something that makes me stronger, not weaker. Yes, sometimes my knee aches after a run, or my shins get stiff, especially now that I am in my forties, but I know it will go away. The pain I struggle with is the stuff that comes on suddenly, unexplained, when I am washing my hair, or typing a report at my desk!

I say, don't limit yourself. If you enjoy exercising, DO IT! Good luck!

 

[dharn999]

I definitely notice my aches and tightness go away while I'm working out.. The first time I was struggling with TMS (before I was aware of it being TMS) I could still feel painful pulls in my back.. Once I accepted things and got moving on with my life the pain wasn't my focus...

This time around the pain is somewhat of my focus, only when I use my back or glutes, and I usually don't feel anything.

I just want to make sure that me focusing on some of the areas that hurt won't keep me mentally blocked because I'm focused on the physical.. It feels great to stretch out my glutes and to strengthen them along with my core. I'm just hoping that my awareness of TMS is what will make the pain go away, not the workout. If that makes sense

 

[plum]

I just want to make sure that me focusing on some of the areas that hurt won't keep me mentally blocked because I'm focused on the physical.. It feels great to stretch out my glutes and to strengthen them along with my core. I'm just hoping that my awareness of TMS is what will make the pain go away, not the workout. If that makes sense

If anything you may find bringing awareness to not only the areas that pain you but to your body in general will lead to psychological insights. Remember that the mind~body are intimately connected and you can use body-oriented methods to access this remarkable field of consciousness, especially if methods like journalling don't seem to help much.

By tuning into your body (not your pain) you can heighten your kinaesthetic awareness which will bring patterns of habitual tension into consciousness. You'll begin to see how certain thoughts arise around pain and how they can become chronic and persistent to the point where we tune these thoughts out rendering them habitual. Once anything becomes a habit the subconscious assumes control.

It does well to approach this game of cat and mouse with a curious spirit. Look to where you mind tightens around a belief and how it translates into physical tension and how reciprocally as you stretch and relax your body the mind can limber up too.

Above all go gently. You are learning about yourself at a deeper level and while pain is a rubbish way of doing this it is time-honoured in pretty much all sacred traditions. Your body is a mirror for your mind and over time you will get better at recognising the beliefs and emotions that cause you to react and therefore tighten and tense, and you will be able to diffuse this as it occurs.

So my long answer short is yes, but please understand that this is only one way of accessing the real issue. Be mindful of flipping back into a mindset that suggests that exercise is a cure for tms. Keep tacking back to embrace the big picture.

Feel free to ask more questions. This is an area where people often get confused or a bit stuck so it does well to kick it around for clarity.

 

[dharn999]

I know my biggest problem is that I'm still thinking this is still physical because it's only been two weeks and the pain started after 4 hours of moving furniture up and down stairs late in the day.. I hate that I'm going to either (a) accept that this is my TMS popping back up again or (b) go through the pain a couple months until I can get it in my head that this is my brain distracting me from the real stress going on in my life

Exercising/running/ weight lifting is my favorite hobby and giving that up last time I went through this (over a year of pain) felt like part of me was missing and I really don't want to go through the emotional toll it took last time

like I said earlier I've always thought every injury was never going to heal so things linger pretty bad.. I know this is all part of the TMS process and I need to accept it and let The healing begin

 

[plum]

Relax the emotional fight too. Many of us get into all kinds of bother by becoming too intense and harried around healing. When we're not fretting about our bodies we chivy various emotional states. You know this already so let it be.

All injuries heal given time, and that applies equally to the physical and emotional realms. It's the constant scab-picking that interferes with our natural healing process. Do what you enjoy and lean into thoughts and activities that relax you. This tms phase will pass.

 

[dharn999]

With this being the second time the pain has been this bad I'm trying to rush it because I know I've beat it before and I want it gone since I know what's causing it...

I'm at a different point in my life than where I was 3 years ago when I first heard about TMS and Dr Sarno.. I have different responsibilities and stresses, but I just need to keep telling myself that this is TMS and my body will heal, it's going to take time like it did before

I've forgotten the journey I went through last time to get better, I only remember the outcome so I'm expecting instant results and I need to learn this isn't what's going to happen

It's really difficult though to not want to treat the pain with physical treatment and not mental.. Is that alright? Kind of backing to what my first question was? Can I treat symptoms to alive pain even though I know I won't get better untill I start thinking mentally

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi,dharn. You could do with an increase in belief that TMS is causing your pain.

Dr. Sarno's 12 Daily Reminders can help you in this. I also like the extended version that explains each step in more depth that were posted by another member of this TMS healing cmmunity:


Herbie’s Extended Version of Dr. Sarno’s 12 DAILY REMINDERS

1. The pain is due to TMS. This is real pain or anxiety but it is caused by subconscious tensions and triggers, stressors and traits to your reactions and fears and also when at boiling point your conscious tension can and does also cause real pain.
2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or anxiety then the blood is restricted from going to your lower back, for instance. The blood being restricted causes oxygen deprivation which causes the pain. Remember, where there is no oxygen then there is pain in the body. Also, the pain stays because of fear.
3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS so even though you think you can harm yourself from the years of pain you have felt and how you feel in general -- so far no reports have been heard from TMS healing knowledge causing damage to anyone, it only helps.
4. The principle emotion is your repressed ANGER -- this means under your consciousness lies something that happens automatically to everyone. TMSers have repressions that are stored because of our personality traits, traumas, stressors, fears, strain, etc... When these stored repressions build and build, then eventually they cause the brain to send pain into your body to keep you from having an emotional crises. The mind-body thinks it is helping you.
5. TMS exists to DISTRACT your attentions from the emotions, stressors, tensions and strains of your personality traits because if you can get distraction then you won’t have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed because you didn't want to deal with something -- they are just adding up in this beaker, ready to pour over and create real pain and anxiety in your body.
6. Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear. So in reality when I fear the pain or anxiety I just cause myself undo strain and tension adding to the beaker of pain. If I fear, then I feed the pain, If I fear, it’s impossible to recondition. Fear keeps the pain and anxiety alive in the body through focus.
7. Therefore, physical activity is harmless. If I want to work against the pain I could but it’s better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I have to be in pain trying to heal because facing the repressions and all the other activities that cause the pain and reversing my fear and focus to them, then I can heal.
8. I am resuming all normal physical activity. I don't fear moving anymore. I believe in my body’s ability to heal now. I can move as I want. I will not fear moving with a bent back anymore. I will also practice going out and acting normal again, not in fear of what pain might do to me.
9. The pain is unimportant and powerless. Its only power is how it is hidden -- its illusion, its fear.
10. I will keep my attention on the emotional issues. I will think about my emotions and feel my emotions throughout the day. I will not judge, criticize or fear my emotions. I will not run from my emotional issues but face every one of them. I will feel my emotions fully and cry if I need to. Then I will release the emotion and get my mind and thoughts back to my life and living in the present.
11. I am in control of all of this. This is how I recover.
12. I will be thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES. This means I will keep my thoughts on psychological issues like happiness, fear and anger -- traits and triggers, conditioning and journaling -- The science behind mind-body/TMS healing, etc.... This way I will not feed my thoughts to the body -- that is a trick of TMS. TMS will always try to get me to focus on the body caused by the pain until I break its show and flair. When I get my attention off physical symptoms and on to emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore, thus making the TMS of no pain effect on the body. This will in return, give us the cure and become pain-free.

 

[dharn999]

Thanks Walt, I actually need to read these several times a day to create a better reinforcement in my thoughts..

And you are definitely right, I need to accept the diagnosis more. Come to think about it, before this recent relapse I would feel a slight ache in my lower back (same side as my current flare up) and I would think, "I wonder what I did to cause this ache" instead of "what's going on in my life to cause me to stress and have this ache".

My shoulder actually started to bother me off and on while my back and butt started to feel better but again, I never put it together.. I just never obsessed over my shoulder like I did my back

I think I used my Journal maybe for a week then I just went in with life and started to feel a lot better.. It took time, but it happened. I don't think I ever really accepted that I had TMS and I kind of quit working on it (sorry to everyone that's dedicated to the forum because this is actually my second account because I forgot my old one from 3 years ago)

I just started a journal program again to help me out. I haven't limited myself physically in any way and am telling myself why I won't instead of toughening it out like I did the first week of my relapse (I actually fell victim to dr Google for a bit as well)

Thanks everyone for the support and hopefully this time I'll get all the way through this